


The Flood

by slytherubbish



Category: The Society (TV 2019)
Genre: M/M, Pining, just lots of cute intellectual shit, lots of literature
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-26 17:17:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20933855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slytherubbish/pseuds/slytherubbish
Summary: Once Grizz starts noticing Sam, he never really stops.Everyone has that one person they’ll always have a thing for, who will always be immortalized with beauty in their mind. Someone that will always be their one weakness. Soon enough Grizz was almost certain that's what Sam was to him. The most beautiful boy alive, his Achilles heel.





	1. Achilles

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to all of you that are here. This is my favorite ship right now and frankly I spend way too much time thinking about the society. Anyways my point is I couldn’t handle the lack of content so I decided to write my first fic ever. Side note: it's pretty difficult to write a fic about the society bc I feel like there’s a lack of different ways things could go while still being realistic that being said I'm hoping this fic has enough of my personal spice that you like it :))

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In short Grizz: never wants anyone to know he's gay, and notices Sam for the first time.

Chapter One

-

Before Grizz realized he was gay he assumed the reason he thought about that guy East Ham’s middle school football team a lot was because he was a good player. Boy was he wrong. 

Then it made perfect sense. Why his mom put him in peewee football and didn’t let him tap dance. Why his parents wouldn’t let him do theater, but preferred that he took a class that could actually be useful. Like they hoped it would just magically make him straight. So in fear of not being accepted Grizz spent almost all of middle school and pretty much his entire high school career perfecting his facade. 

He liked how Emerson said it, “to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment”. Probably because it was the one thing he couldn’t accomplish. He could be the school’s best football player or have the highest grade in every English class he was ever required to take. He took pride in those things, but being gay was something he couldn’t do. At least, not in high school. 

He hoped that maybe, just maybe, he would never have to worry about it. That he could just pretend it until college and then he could be with whoever he wanted to. At that point he could just never communicate with his parents again. People do that all the time right? He could do that. It was all fine, just peachy. Until this one party at Campbell’s.

“What are we gonna do after the game then nothing?” Jason sounded exasperated “That’s so fucking boring I bought beer and everything yesterday.”

“Having a little dilemma I see boys?” Campbell said slinging his arms around Clark and Jason. Grizz remembered even then something about Campbell’s smile was unsettling. “Well, my parents aren’t home this weekend”

“So?” Clark asked. I swear he can’t make a connection for shit.

“So, everyone’s welcome at my place,” He received a few questioning looks, “My parents have so much vodka that they don’t know what to do with it.”

It was like everyone was waiting for the other to say something first. 

“Uh, thanks?” Grizz hesitantly answered. 

“Anything for my favorite star football player.” he laughed.

Everyone knew that Sam was gay. It’s not that he had come out to the entire world or something, like in those movies where everything is perfect and where boys kiss each other on top of Ferris wheels with fireworks lighting up the sky. Everyone just kind of knew, or assumed, or overheard Campbell shouting slurs. 

So after Grizz’s second —maybe third— beer he was just tipsy enough to not notice or care that he was staring. It’s not like he planned on talking to Sam, it was just crazy that he never noticed how beautiful Sam was. 

Sure Grizz had seen him in class, like junior year when they had English together. He remembered that was the year they read The Great Gatsby. 

Honestly Grizz had never truly decided if he liked the book or not. He liked almost everything he had ever read. Like King Lear or Faulkner’s the Bear, though admittedly because of his nickname. Grizz could even enjoy Frankenstien, but there were books he just didn’t like. Sure he knew everything about Beowulf, but the hero of the Geats never intrigued him too much. 

And the ambiguous stuff, the stuff he couldn’t quite decide on. All of that was somewhere in the middle, hidden in between stacks of Gatsby’s beautiful expensive shirts.

But anyways he had seen Sam, but never really saw him. His bright blue eyes and the way his hair was always pushed back a certain way, Grizz was astounded that those details evaded him. 

He wondered why Sam was even there. Grizz never cared for parties in the same way his friends did, but he would do anything to let loose and forget about everything. He wondered if it was the same for Sam. If he really wanted to be there or if he just wanted to escape.

Grizz’s mind never stopped racing, but from then on it was almost constantly racing with thoughts of Sam. 

-

Another thing Grizz remembered about that party was when Campbell had pulled Sam aside. He quickly started signing, almost with a hint of aggression. Campbell wore that same smile, the same one he used when he wanted something or when things weren’t going his way. 

After that Sam put down his beer and walked out of the house dejectedly. If only Grizz could understand what he was saying. He only hoped it wasn't anything too rude but he knew his hopes were futile. Campbell will never cease to be Campbell. All he really wanted was to run after him, kiss him, or run his hands through his perfect hair or even- 

“Grizz,” Clark interrupted his ever flowing train of thought while leading him to the living room, “Grizz my man where have you been?”

Underneath indistinct chatter someone was playing the piano. It was that girl from his math class, Elle. He had never seen her at a party before but there she was playing something classical, maybe Brahms, on the piano. Weird for a party but at least she was good. He noticed Campbell had snuck over there trying to talk to her as she played.

Grizz wasn’t especially religious, his church attendance was merely habitual, but he made a mental note to pray for her tonight.

“Well, I was trying to find some vodka but got distracted by-” Grizz started collapsing into the last empty chair.

“Doesn’t matter,” Clark interrupted again. “Me and the boys are trying to get you laid.”

“Yeah c’mon Grizz” Jason nodded along before practically chugging a Corona. “What do you think about Lexie?”

“Guys Lexie’s borderline psycho.” Luke retorted laughing at the mere thought of Grizz trying to strike up a conversation with her.

“Yeah but she’s kinda hot” Clark argued, but every girl was at least kind of hot to Clark.

“Hold up this can wait Erika just got here.” Jason said suddenly getting up and grabbing what was left of his Corona from the side table, “I’m trying to hook up with her before we graduate.”

No one saw Jason for the rest of the night after that. 

“Grizz if you're really looking for someone what about that cheerleader girl” Luke proposed as if he thought he was helping, “What's her name, Olivia?”

“Guys it doesn’t matter, I just want to have a good time,” Grizz said. 

“Aww mission failed,” Clark stated in false despair, “Are you sure you aren't gay or something Grizz?” Clark laughed as if it was an actual joke.

“Pretty sure,” Grizz lied desperately trying to laugh along. 

“Don’t give the man a hard time,” Luke said patting Grizz’s back. “I'm gonna go find Helena again.”

“When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state” Grizz

“Huh?” Clark asked

“Shakespeare sonnet 29.”

“Dude you can do that drunk too?”

-

Grizz didn’t consider himself a genius by any means, “the true genius shudders at incompleteness - and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be”, Grizz didn’t think he ever preferred silence. Words always worked for him, they were always there. Even when he didn’t know what to say some renowned poet or author did. 

The one exception was Sam. Wasn’t he always the one exception. 

Everyone has that one person they’ll always have a thing for, who will always be immortalized with beauty in their mind. Someone that will always be their one weakness.

Soon enough Grizz was almost certain that's what Sam was to him. The most beautiful boy alive, his Achilles heel. 

-  
THIS BRIDGE Shel Silverstien

This bridge will only take you halfway there  
To those mysterious lands you long to see:  
Through gypsy camps and swirling Arab fairs  
And moonlit woods where unicorns run free.  
So come and walk awhile with me and share  
The twisting trails and wondrous worlds I’ve known  
But this bridge will only take you halfway there-  
The last few steps you’ll have to take alone.


	2. Walden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In short Grizz wonders: where did that writing go, I would do anything to live in the woods with Sam forever, shit we're really fucked, and I wonder if my friends will ever accept me

Chapter 2

You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.  
-

It was only after Grizz was adequately drunk that he decided what he really needed to do was take a piss.

“Once it was so cold my pee froze on the way down” Clark bragged.

“Ohh I wish I'd been there” Grizz deadpanned, looking up only to notice, “It’s gone.”

-

Even amid the loud music echoing against the walls of the church, Grizz couldn’t stop thinking about the graffiti.

It had to mean something right?

It couldn’t just be a complete coincidence that everyone had vanished, and someone just happened to write something from the Hebrew bible exactly where it could be spotted.

He remembered the story decently well, it was the book of Daniel. 

Belshazzar, what was he like a king or something, destroyed and looted the first temple and they have an enormous feast. 

And God's angry with them, rightfully so, because they destroyed a place of worship. Belshazzar's dad was smart enough to realize his kingdom would be nothing without God's rule, but he himself isn’t really down. 

So, God punishes him. He's weighed and found wanting. 

But then who’s Belshazzar? Everyone on the field trip, and why would they be punished by God? More so, someone could trying to play God, which never seems to end well. 

It's not like they knew the extent of their situation.

Everyone was too busy getting drunk out of their minds to notice. Hell, Grizz wasn’t completely sure that their parents were gone yet. 

He eagerly awaited the day when he could finally abandon his parents. Though that was high school, and what about now. He knew what he really desired, but it was never anything this dramatized.

Sure his parents fought, and his Dad was so homophobic that it frightened him, but they were his parents. He was supposed to love them.

He knew all of his speculations would, at the present moment, lead him to no definite conclusion.

So fuck it, he mused and went in search of yet another beer.

-

Scoping out the surrounding dense forest had seemed like a good idea initially. But Grizz was starting to wonder if it would actually be of any use. They had no idea what the possibilities were here, or what they could encounter.

All he could think about as they wandered aimlessly through the woods was what Sam was doing. How all of the chaos was affecting him.

Sam probably had parents that loved him more than anything, that would do anything to see him succeed and be happy. Parents who cared more that their child was kind than if he was gay.

If Sam could be his, all he would want right now is to run his fingers through Sam’s hair. Put his arms around him and kiss him gently. Kiss him with all of the urgency coursing through his veins. It's weird to feel like you miss someone you're not even sure you know. That one’s David Foster Wallace.

Maybe if Grizz really had nothing else to care about he would build a cabin and live in the woods, just he and Sam, until everything was back to normal.

He would be just like Thoreau. 

The same person who disputed that "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." That wasn't the man Grizz longed to be but, sitting silently pondering the life he wanted with Sam, he knew the desperation that overtook him.

-

The futility of their actions hit Grizz like a truck when Emily’s breathing became labored. It’s not like they had thought to bring an EpiPen, she probably had no fucking idea what she was allergic to.

Almost immediately he knew it was too late. As reality set in the lump in his throat seemed to get bigger. Until tears were streaming down his face and soaking into the fabric of his well-worn hoodie.

No adult ever tells you what to do when life morphs into an actuality of utter chaos. You have to figure out what to do by yourself, and that's what Grizz -what all of them- had to do now.

-

The boys were at a loss. Maybe it was the oncoming sense of boredom or that they were hungover, but they decided to lay around on the football field. 

Grizz was almost embarrassed to admit it, but he really missed the feeling of being part of the team. Sure an entire high school class’s fight for survival could also be considered a team effort, but he really just wanted to be winning games with his closest friends again.

Part of him hoped that hanging out like used to would make him feel better, but sometimes it only made him feel worse.

He really did love his friends. Sure they could be abrasive but, with no siblings, they were his closest thing to a real family. 

Even so, he didn’t want to tell them for the same reason he didn’t want to tell his parents, he was terrified.

“Okay okay, so Helena, Elle, or Allie?” Clark offered up, having adopted the game that Gwen often played with her friends. 

“This is stupid guys,” Luke chastised sighing. “I mean seriously Helena’s my girlfriend.”

Sometimes it was nice to know that there was at least someone else in the group had a good head on their shoulders. 

“C’mon dude loosen up,” Jason retorted picking at the grass in front of him. “Fuck Helena, Kill Elle, and I guess marry Allie.”

“I don’t know man you think Allie is marriage material?” Clark joked.

“The real question is would Helena fuck anybody?” Jason tested already knowing what Luke's response would be. 

“Yeah, Luke would she?” Clark pressed on.

Sometimes I think I lose brain cells every time I hang out with these guys. 

“You guys already know how that is between she and I,” Luke acknowledged. Man, he really did know how to keep his cool.

“A good man’s fortune may grow out at heels,” Grizz wittingly remarked his hair tied in a messy ponytail with strands hanging from the front.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Clark said not realizing the folly of his questioning.

“It's Shakespeare you know King Lear?” He received a look from just about all of them, “We read it-well we were supposed to read it first semester. He means even a good man’s luck will run out.”

“Dude you lost me a while ago,” Jason admitted, “Shakespeare’s stupid anyway.”

“You know people thought he was Bisexual,” Grizz added nervously awaiting a response.

“Well, that's fucking gay,” Clarke stated.

"No shit," Grizz was starting to wonder why he ever kept rambling.

\- 

FLOW CHART John Ashbery

“Still in the published city but not yet  
overtaken by a new form of despair, I ask  
the diagram: is it the foretaste of pain  
it might easily be? Or an emptiness  
so sudden it leaves the girders  
whanging in the absence of wind,  
the sky milk-blue and astringent? We know life is so busy,  
but a larger activity shrouds it, and this is something  
we can never feel, except occasionally, in small signs  
put up to warn us and as soon expunged, in part  
or wholly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After the introduction, I've decided to continue by explaining things more from Grizz's perspective. Sort of as a way to fill in the blanks where we don't really hear from him or fully get to understand his emotion. Thanks for reading :))


End file.
